With the occasion of 113thfounding anniversary of the Romanian Lottery, Romfilatelia releases into circulation, on Friday, September 13th this year, the philatelic issue The Romanian Lottery, 113 years of luck.
The Romanian Lottery was founded 113 years ago, in 1906, based on a social purpose, namely, helping people and financially supporting the state, supporting public health and national public interest projects.
In the year of its inception, 40 years of reign of King Carol I had passed, 25 years since the proclamation of the kingdom and 1800 years since the conquest of Dacia by the Romans. In order to mark these three anniversaries, the Government decided to organize the General Romanian Exhibition. The funds allotted for the project from the state budget were much under the level of the estimated costs. Following the model of other countries, in order to obtain the necessary funds, the foundation of an exhibition lottery was proposed (“Romanian Exhibition Lottery”).
This way, the first step towards the foundation of a national lottery had been made. The birth certificate of the Romanian National Lottery, “The law on establishing a health care fund for villagers” is related to the name of King Carol I of Romania who promulgated this law on the 29thof May 1906 and also to the name of other important figures of that epoch, such as Prof. Surgeon Thoma Ionescu who had inspired this initiative and Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Internal Affairs. As a result of this fact, in the Official Gazette of July 12th, 1906 the Articles of Incorporation of the Company of the Romanian State Lottery were published together with the by-laws.
The idea behind the conception of the National Lottery had a base component that focused on social aspects and regardless what status it had over time, state owned, company, administration or society, it has fulfilled its purpose, in its 113 years of activity, the Romanian Lottery has changed the lives of many Romanians and managed to provide, over time, financial means for carrying out projects of public interest in the field of health and social care, sports, culture, education, it has supported humanitarian projects and promoted Romanian culture and values.
The Romanian Lottery is an active member of two major associations in the field: The European Lotteries and the World Lottery Association, organizations that bring together national lotteries around the world. The main aim of these associations is to make contacts and exchange information among its members, studying new technologies in the field and carrying out common actions both in the legislative area and in terms of providing responsible games, of preventing game addiction and of promoting the social mission of the national lotteries.
The story of luck has been written at the Romanian Lottery for 113 years by people, employees and players, along with every Romanian whose life has been changed thanks to the institution.
The postage stamp with the face value of Lei 8.50, reproduces in its symbolic graphics two balls used in drawing winning numbers on which the digits 1 and 13 appear, meant to represent the “age” of 113 years of the Romanian Lottery. Visible only under UV light, the text “The Romanian Lottery, 113 years of luck” can be found along the image of a clover, a symbol found in the logo of the celebrated institution.
Romfilatelia thanks the Romanian Lottery for the documentary support granted to the achievement of this postage stamp issue.
